Tennis racket brush attachment

ABSTRACT

A tennis racket brush attachment to detachably mount a brush to the head of a tennis racket to provide a means of sweeping debris from the playing surface and cleaning the boundary lines of a tennis court comprising a first attachment element affixed to the head of the tennis racket and a second attachment element affixed to the brush wherein the first attachment element and second attachment element are similarly configured to selectively engage each other to detachably mount the brush to the head of the tennis racket.

CROSS-REFERENCE

This application claims priority from pending provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/463,954 filed Feb. 25, 2011.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

A tennis racket brush attachment to detachably mount a brush to the head of a tennis racket to provide means for sweeping debris and cleaning the boundary lines of a tennis court.

2. Description of the Prior Art

In tennis, the tennis ball often creates marks on or near the boundary lines of the court. The lines must be swept or cleaned throughout the match. Thus there is need for a brush or the like conveniently located near the court to facilitate the cleaning. For this purpose, various attachments have been designed in the past.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,320 shows a tennis racket attachment which includes a pair of resilient retaining members releasably positioned on the frame of the racket and arranged to receive a tennis ball resting on a court or other surface.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,271 relates to a brush attachment for a tennis racket comprising a body member including a longitudinally extending groove and a pair of straps attached to the body to secure a brush and the racket so that a player can sweep the lines of the tennis court during a match.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,349,422 shows a green sweeping brush attachment for a golf putter that slips over the club with a flexible brush attached to the bottom.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,506 relates to the head portion of the frame of a racquet including a conforming cover of a cushioning material or resilient pad extending around and embracing the periphery of the head to minimize the possibility of injury during play.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,712 discloses an apparatus detachably attached to a tennis racket to securely grasp and pick up a tennis ball thereby permitting the user to use the tennis racket to pick up the tennis ball and eliminate the requirement for the user to bend down on numerous occasions. The apparatus includes a removable ball gripping member including a fastening means by which the removable ball gripping member is attached to a tennis racket.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,850 teaches a tennis ball retriever a detachably mounting on the frame of a tennis racket which reduces the stooping and bending usually required to retrieve a tennis ball from the surface of a tennis court. The retriever comprises a pair of tines which are distorted when the racket is forced over the tines of the tennis ball.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,652,397 shows a device for striking a ball or other sports object covered along an exposed edge with one side of an adhesive mating hook and loop fastener. A smaller mating strip of adhesive mating hook and loop fastener is interconnected with the mating portion on the equipment leaving the adhesive side exposed for picking up the ball or other sports object with the piece of sports equipment.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,112,153 describes a retrieval device connected to a racquet to allow a user to pick a ball up off of the ground without having to bend down to do the same. The retrieval device includes an elongated retrieval member having a stationary section connected to the racquet via an attachment assembly and a movable section which is disposed in cooperative engagement with a guide assembly at least a portion of the guide assembly also being connected to the racquet via the attachment assembly. The movable section of the elongated retrieval member is disposable between a storage configuration and a retrieval configuration. More in particular, the storage configuration is at least partially defined by the movable section substantially conforming to a corresponding portion of the head of the racquet, and the retrieval configuration is at least partially defined by the movable section being disposed in a retrieving relation to the ball.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,140,986 shows a hooked material attached to the shoulder of a tennis racquet to allow the ball to be lifted from the court.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,407,457 discloses a racket frame guard assembly comprising a flexible abrasion-resistant section (ARS) for covering an outside portion of a racket frame and a collar with a fastener cavity formed with the ARS. The assembly also includes either a separate or attached fastener strip, insertible through the collar fastener cavity, having a length sufficient to wrap around a radial circumference of the racket frame. The fastener strip is used to secure the ARS to a racket frame. For example, the fastener strip can be a tie wrap, Velcro tie or even a twist tie. Typically, the ARS has a tubular-shape with an inside surface formed along an interior axis, and the collar fastener cavity is formed by the ARS inside surface. The ARS inside surface can be an inside cylinder surface or a rectangular slit for example.

US 2007/0265119 teaches a ball-coupling and protection apparatus including hooks from a hook and loop fastener set to engage the surface of a tennis ball.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a tennis racket brush attachment to detachably mount a brush to the head of a tennis racket. A further object of the present invention is to provide a novel brush attachment for tennis rackets which can be easily attached to or disengaged from the bow of a tennis racket.

The tennis racket comprises a grip affixed to the head including a frame having a plurality of strings strung thereto by a shank. The head comprises a frame.

The brush comprises an arcuate shape base to conform to the arcute shape of the frame. The tennis racket brush attachment comprises a first attachment element affixed to the frame and a second attachment element attached to the brush. The first attachment element and second attachment element comprising a plurality of loops and hooks respectively to operatively engage each other to detachably secure the tennis racket brush attachment to the head of the tennis racket.

The grip acts as a handle for the brush to contact the ground to clean the surface of the playing area.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description are efficiently attained and since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a fuller understanding of the nature and object of the invention, reference should be had to the following detained description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front view of a tennis racket and the tennis racket brush attachment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded partial cross-sectional side view of the frame of the tennis racket and the tennis racket brush attachment of the present invention taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an exploded front view of the tennis racket and the tennis racket brush attachment of the present invention.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As shown in FIGS. 1 through 3, the present invention relates to a tennis racket brush attachment generally indicated as 10 to detachably mount a brush generally indicated as 12 to a tennis racket generally indicated as 14.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the tennis racket 14 comprises a grip 16 affixed to the head generally indicated as 18 by a shank 20. The head 18 comprises a frame 22 having a plurality of strings generally indicated as 24 strung thereto.

The brush 12 comprises an arcuate substantially H-shaped base 26 to conform to the arcuate shape of the frame 22. A first attachment element 36 is affixed to the frame 22. The arcuate substantially H-shaped base 26 includes an inner channel 28 to receive a second attachment element 34 therein and an outer channel 32 to receive the proximal end portions of a plurality of bristles 30 extending radially outward therefrom. The first attachment element 36 and the second attached element 34 comprise a plurality of loops and hooks respectively to operatively engage each other to detachably secure the tennis racket brush attachment 10 to the head 18 of the tennis racket 14.

As best shown in FIG. 2, the sides 38 of the inner channel 28 snuggly engage the sides of the head 18 of the tennis racket 14 to stabilize the tennis racket brush attachment 10 on the tennis racket 14 when in use.

Bristles 30 that extend radially away are used to sweep the lines of tennis courts or clean debris from the playing surface by using the grip 16 as a handle for the brush 12 and holding the tennis racket 14 in a depending position as the bristles 30 contact the ground.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description are efficiently attained and since certain changes may be made in the above construction without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. 

1. (canceled)
 2. The tennis racket brush attachment of claim 7 wherein a first attachment element and a second attachment element comprises a plurality of loops and a plurality of hooks are affixed to the inner surface of the said arcuate interconnecting cross-member and said frame to engage each other to detachably retain said tennis racket brush attachment on said frame.
 3. (canceled)
 4. (canceled)
 5. The tennis racket brush attachment of claim 8 wherein a first attachment element and a second attachment element consisting essentially of a plurality of loops and a plurality of hooks are affixed to the inner surface of the said arcuate interconnecting cross-member and said frame to engage each other to detachably retain said tennis racket brush attachment on said frame.
 6. (canceled)
 7. A tennis racket brush attachment to detachably mount a brush including a plurality of bristles to the frame of a tennis racket to provide a way of sweeping debris from the playing surface and cleaning the boundary lines of a tennis court comprising a first attachment element affixed to the frame of the tennis racket and a second attachment element affixed to said tennis racket brush attachment wherein said first attachment element and said second attachment element are configured to engage each other to detachably mount said tennis racket brush attachment to the frame of the tennis racket and a base including a pair of arcuate side members held in fixed spaced relationship relative to each other by an arcuate interconnecting cross-member wherein an inner channel is formed by said pair of arcuate side members to receive the frame of the tennis racket and an inner surface of said arcuate interconnecting cross-member and an outer channel is formed by said pair of arcuate side members and an outer surface of said arcuate interconnecting cross member to receive said plurality of bristles therein wherein the width of said inner channel is wider than the width of said frame such that the corners of said inside surfaces of the lower portion of each of said arcuate side member engages the corresponding side of said frame to limit the lateral movement of the frame within said inner channel.
 8. A tennis racket brush attachment to detachably mount a brush to the frame of a tennis racket to provide a way of sweeping debris from the playing surface and cleaning the boundary lines of a tennis court consisting essentially of a first attachment element affixed to the frame of the tennis racket and a second attachment element affixed to said tennis racket brush attachment wherein said first attachment element and said second attachment element are configured to engage each other to detachably mount said tennis racket brush attachment to the frame of the tennis racket and a base including a pair of arcuate side members held in fixed spaced relationship relative to each other by an arcuate interconnecting cross-member wherein an inner channel is formed by said pair of arcuate side members to receive the frame of the tennis racket and an inner surface of said arcuate interconnecting cross-member and an outer channel is formed by said pair of arcuate side members and an outer surface of said arcuate interconnecting cross member to receive said plurality of bristles therein wherein the width of said inner channel is wider than the width of said frame such that the corners of said inside surfaces of the lower portion of each of said arcuate side member engages the corresponding side of said frame to limit the lateral movement of the frame within said inner channel. 